Lawn sprinkler



April 29, 1930. M. E. ESTEP 1,756,483v

LAWN S PR INKLER Filed June 25, 1925- 4 Izzi/enter Allora@ Patented lAlpi'. 29, 19,30

UNITED STA mins E; Es'rEP, or Los ANGELES, cnmronma LAWN SPRINKLER Application led June 23, 1925. Serial No. 39,013.

My ypresent invention is a lawn sprinkler providing simple and practical means for throwing what I may term a square spray.

Sprinklers in common use, whether or not they. comprise moving parts, commonly wet circular or semicircular areas with the result that, in order to wet all parts of a lawn, there is usually a considerable overlapping of circles,-with' a consequent uneven distribution and waste of water; and it is an object of my invention to, provide sprinklers adapted, when disposed at equal distances in parallel rows, to distribute substantially the same quantity of water, in a given time, to all parts of a lawn,'-withoi1t appreciable overlapping or omissions. It -is an object of my invention to provide an inexpensive and reliable sprinkler, adapted to be made and sold at moderate cost, capable of being easily and quickly installed atl the end of an upright pipe nipple, or the like, such as may be connected with a hidden distribution pipe or an ordinary hose base; and a preferred embodiment of my invention mayv comprise a circular disc diagonally slotted at four points equally distributed on its circumference, this disc being held in place by means such as a threaded cap provided with a central aperture and with intermediate shoulders, as hereinafter described. Embodiments of my presenteinvention may be adapted to distrbutewater over various regular or ir-` regular polygonal figures, such as triangles or pentagons orstars -of various types; and it is an objectv of the ,hereinafter described .form of my invention not only to provide a sprayer adapted lto wet a predetermined geometrical ligure' but to provide incidental means enabling the user to so orient his sprinkler that the corners of the spraymay etend in desired directions.` y

Other objects of my invention will appear from-'the following description of an advantageous embodiment thereof, taken in connection with the appended claims and the accompanying drawings, in 'which- Fig. ljis a perspective view, showing how one of m sprinklers may appear when water is parta ly turned on,-dotted and dash lines being employed in this hereinafter described.

ligurelfor purposes Fig. 2'is a top plan'view of one of my sprinklers.

Fig. 3 is a vertical section al View, taken substantially as indicated by the line 3 3 of Fig. 2. l.

Figs. 4 and 5 are respectively a top plan View and a bottom plan view'of a slotted disc which is shown in elevation in Fig. 3. y

Fig. 6 is a sectional view of said disc, .taken substantially as indicated by the line 6 6 of Fig. 4. 'I

Ieferring to the details of that specic embodiment of my inventionchosen for purposes of illustration, 11 maybe an ordinary threaded nipple, extending upright from a so-called hose base or from an underground distributing pipe 12; and on the upper end of this element, whichvmay be an ordinary half inch nipple, a slotted disc l13, of special configuration, "may be retained by means such as an apertured cap 14, shown as provided not only with an outlet opening 15 and with interior threads 16 to engage cooperating threads 17 on said nipple, but with intermediate shoulders 18 and 19, the latter being adapted directly to engage the practically fiat upper surface of the disc 13.

In the disc 13, as at four points separated circumferentially at a quadrants distance from one another, I cut inclined slots 20, substantially as shown, these slots being cut deep enough to permit the inner corner. 21 to extend within the projection of the open- Y ing15 .upon the disc 13 so that these corners are visible through the openingA 15 when viewed verticallyfrom above the cap 14. The I depth and lform of these slots is important for the reason l that, although I am unable to explain all of my results, I find that the cutting of deep ,slots -tends to produce a star l shaped figure whereas the cutting of unduly shallow slots results in a rounding of the corners of the sprayedarea; and it is important that the shoulder 18 be spaced from the disc 13 in substantially the manner shown, and .it is also important that the cylindrical surface 22 of the aperture 15 meet the top surface 23 of the cap 14 substantially at right angles;-

Y ferred Ito bein any beveling or ltapering at the point last ree ective to produce a substantially circ ar distributionof water, even though the plate 13 be slotted, and other described parts be related substantially as described. v V A ,When water at an ordinarypressure, such as a pressure of fifty pounds perfsquare inch is delivered to a 1% inch pipe 12, or its equivalent, 7 to 9 sprayers of the general type describedmay be uniformly distributed thereupon to water larger areas such as areas exceeding twenty-five feet in diameter. In order to make a good Contact with the end of a nipple. or other delivery pipe, the discs 13 may be beveled on their under surfaces, substantially as suggested at 24; and,

in order to aid the user in orientingthe respective sprayers, so that the corners of the resultant squares shall extend in -predetermined directions, the top surfaces 25 thereof may optionally be provided with means such as an X 26, the respective lines thereof'indeating the corners of the mentioned square. When water is turned on at partial pressure, the result may be substantially as indicated in Fig. 1, a bowl 27 of water, perhaps 8 inches in diameter, being formed at 27, immediately -above the outlet opening 15, and horns 28 being projected toward the corners 29 of a rectangular area.

Upon turning on full pressure, the sprinkled area may increase to dimensions such as are suggested by the dash line 3(7). 'When, however, the diagonal slots 20 have been/cut to an insuiiicient depth, the corners of the f .sprinkled area may -be rounded, somewhat Y as indicated by the line 32; whereas,` if all or .some of the corners have been eut to an-exc essive depth, the result may be the forma- 'tlon of a star or other ligure, such as 'a figure including relatively sharp projectingupoints myinvention permits of the production of tion and of the Y their equivalents cut in the4 beveled .pe-

as indicated by the line\31; and in t nection it should 'be noted that a great variety of regular or ii'regular spray figures ma be Y produced suitably `varying the distribuescribed slots or ihery olf' a disc 13. Therev ma be little' for triangular or pentagona or other non-circular sprays of-'unusual form; but

, such-spray's, when desired, for the watermg'of unusual plots,' between walks or at con- Y irregular estates, or elsewhere. Anidentical.v

cap maybe used with various discs interchangeably used; and if desired, the X stamped in the top of the disc 13 may be sutilciently 'deep topermit the use of a screwdriver in adjusting the orientation of the' same; but the disc 13 is not' intended to rotate y in use. The'inclination of the slots therein ma .be -about 45.

have herein described in detail one complete embodiment `of my invention; but it should be understood. that various features of this invention might be independently used, and also that numerous modifications might be made, by those skilled in the art to which this case relates, withoutthe slightest de'-l parture from ,the spirit and scope of my invention, as the same is indicated aboveand in the following claims. For example, even though it be true that spacing means could be provided )on the disc 13 ratherthan on the cap 14, or that these elements might be. cast or otherwise formed integral with -onel another or with,v a nipple or other tubular ele-l ment, or that they might be secured to such `tubular element otherwise than by a threaded connection, there would appear to be no spe. cial advantage and no additional act of invention, involved in the production of such alter` native forms.

I claim as my invention: n l. A lawnlsprinkler for throwing anoncircular spray comprising: a cap provided with a perpendicular aperture and adapted to be secured .to an upright tubular outlet element; and aidisc retained by said cap and provided with inclined slots having inner edges extending within the project-ion of the aperture in said cap upon said disc,said slots being inclined relative to vertical radial planes spaced about the periphery of said disc, said cap being provided with a shoulder adapted to-contact with said disc and with a second l shoulder spaced therefrom.

2. A lawn sprinkler for throwing a noncircular spray comprising: a. cap having a cylindrical outlet opening provided'therein; and a stationary disc positioned below and in spaced relation with the opening in said cap, the periphery of said disc being provided l'll with'radial slots inclined relative to the surface plane of said disk, the inner corners :of which extend within the projection of said cylindrical opening upon said disc, and thel upper edge'of said cylindricalopening being --disposed at-right angles with the uppersurface 'of Vsaid cap.

circular spray comprising: a cap having a cylindrical outlet opening' provided therein; a stationary diie` positioned below and spaced relation with .the opening in said cap,

and means for varying the orientation. of said disc. relative. to' said cap; the periphery of said being provided with radial slots 3. A lawn sprinkler for :throwingia nonv day of June, 1925.

inclined relative to the surface plane of said disk, the inner corners of which extend within the projection of said cylindrical opening upon said disc, and the upper edge of said cylindrical opening being disposed at right angles with the upper surface o said cap. v

4. A lawn sprinkler comprising: a nipple;

a. centrally apertured cap and a disk adapted l to be adjustably retained between 'said cap and said nipple, said cap being internally provided with a disk engaging shoulder and an upper shoulder spaced thereabove and in Wardly terminating in said central aperture, A said disk being provided with radial slots inv the periphery thereof,said slots having side faces inclined relative to the surace plane of said disk; and an. inner face perpendicular to said plane and said side faces, the inner faces of said slots extendingwithin'the projection of said central aperture onto said disk.

Intestimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand at Los Angeles, California, this 17th MIUJES E. ESTEP. 

